24Feb14

Foreign reporters' Nanjing visit highlights Japanese invasion

China last week organized for foreign correspondents to visit east China's
Nanjing City, site of an infamous World War II massacre at the hands of
Japanese troops in 1937, the Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

The ministry's International Press Center and the Foreign Affairs Office of the
Jiangsu provincial government jointly invited foreign journalists based in China
to visit Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, on Feb. 19 and 20, said Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily news briefing.

Their itinerary covered the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre
by Japanese Invaders, the Nanjing Municipal Archives, the John Rabe and
International Safety Zone Memorial Hall of Nanjing University, and the Nanjing
Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall, she said.

The event came amid repeated controversial moves from Japan on historical
issues, ranging from a Yasukuni Shrine visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to
attempts to retract the country's apology for wartime sex slavery, which
sparked anger from China and the Republic of Korea.

"The journalists saw for themselves the atrocities committed by Japanese
troops, historical documents and archives on murders, and had access to
interview survivors of the Nanjing Massacre," Hua said.

For a while, Japanese right-wing forces have talked nonsense on historical
issues, attempting to deny their military aggression and the Nanjing Massacre,
she said, "but plenty of facts have made Japan's ridiculous claims collapse
themselves."

If Japan continues attempts at denial and refuses to repent, not only will
people not understand the truth but the international community will be justified
in concerns about the country's future, Hua said, quoting foreign media
commentaries.

History can never be forgotten, she added, urging Japan to face and learn
from history so as to look to the future.

[Source: Xinhua, Beijing, 24Feb14]

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